3Doodler: The Amazing 3D Printing Pen That Lets You Draw Plastic Models In The Air

Trace a pattern in the air and hey presto! it&#8217;s manifested in space-time.

With 3D printing, it’s not just the printers themselves that will shake up manufacturing and bring the maker movement to the masses, but also about the tools that will spring up around them. Last year we wrote about a new digital milling tool called FreeD from designers Amit Zoran and Joe Paradiso, which allowed users to sculpt with the aide of a 3D computer model, guiding the tool so it followed the design.

At the time Jamie Zigelbaum, of Zigelbaum + Coelho, said “It's been clear that CAM [computer-aided manufacturing] has been missing a human expressive, improvisational component and this is likely the first entry to that space of its kind.” Jump forward a year and another first makes its way into the market. This one’s called the 3Doodler, from Peter Dilworth and Max Bogue, and it’s a 3D printing pen that allows users to hand draw in the air and voila! Your creation is there as a 3D plastic model.

“What if you could draw things exactly as you imagined? What if you could lift your pen off the paper and create real objects?” says the promo video. So yeah, what if you could? The pen works by heating and cooling plastic as it passes through the pen and then hardens into your design. The results might look a little rough around the edges and most of the designs are wire-frame type sculptures, but it’s a step in the direction of being able to directly manifest your imagination or ideas in physical space. And who doesn’t want that?